Help! (Sterling) Cutlass Trem sticking?

[Mu5icM@n]

Hi All,

I'm mostly a bassist, but I have a Sterling Cutlass CT50, with locking tuners, roasted neck, two point trem. I have it set up to float according to the instructions for the Luke guitars in the faq. It had really good tuning stability, which was very impressive. Then I went for a couple of weeks without playing it, and now it seems like the trem flips between being slightly sharp and slightly flat--basically it feels like the springs/strings aren't finding a place of balance between each other--one moment the strings win and pull it slightly flat, and if I pull up on the bar slightly the springs win and pull the strings slightly sharp. It is driving me crazy. Is this a normal thing with the 2-point trem, is there some piece of maintenance I'm missing, is the cold weather playing into it? What might be going on?

Thanks!

Tom

 

[jayjayjay]

Hi All,

I'm mostly a bassist, but I have a Sterling Cutlass CT50, with locking tuners, roasted neck, two point trem. I have it set up to float according to the instructions for the Luke guitars in the faq. It had really good tuning stability, which was very impressive. Then I went for a couple of weeks without playing it, and now it seems like the trem flips between being slightly sharp and slightly flat--basically it feels like the springs/strings aren't finding a place of balance between each other--one moment the strings win and pull it slightly flat, and if I pull up on the bar slightly the springs win and pull the strings slightly sharp. It is driving me crazy. Is this a normal thing with the 2-point trem, is there some piece of maintenance I'm missing, is the cold weather playing into it? What might be going on?

Thanks!

Tom

Sounds like the strings are binding in the nut. I'd try putting some dry lube like nut sauce or graphite powder in the nut slots.

 

[Mu5icM@n]

Tried lubing the nut. What I found though was that one side of the block is rubbing on the cavity. How can I fix this? I was changing strings and checked, which is how I found it, and through moving the bridge/etc I was able to get it so I don't feel it rubbing anymore, but is there any way to adjust that? Or do I need to get in there with some sandpaper and make a little more room?

 

[DrKev]

The block should not be rubbing in the cavity. Have you tried reaching out to Sterling directly? [email protected]

 

[jayjayjay]

Tried lubing the nut. What I found though was that one side of the block is rubbing on the cavity. How can I fix this? I was changing strings and checked, which is how I found it, and through moving the bridge/etc I was able to get it so I don't feel it rubbing anymore, but is there any way to adjust that? Or do I need to get in there with some sandpaper and make a little more room?

+1 to talking to Sterling, especially if this is a new instrument - it may be a warranty issue.

You didn't say how its rubbing in the cavity - is it on the left or right sides, or front/back? What part is rubbing?

Assuming it's a side: If you want to try and diagnose yourself, I'd start by checking the obvious - are the bridge posts set to equal heights? When you look at the bridge from the tail (looking towards the neck), does it appear to be equally spaced on both sides, e.g. can you see roughly equal amounts of the trem block, or is the bridge slanted left or right? (I have a strat w/ the 6-screw vintage trem, and sometimes it doesn't sit evenly on all screws; one side will float higher than the other.)

Is the bridge riding on the posts correctly? If there's a burr or nick in the seat of one of the posts, it's possible the plate may catch on that burr and not sit true. In that case, you can use some sandpaper or a fine file and smooth the seat.

Is the trem block itself mounted square on the bridge plate? Perhaps the trem block is not mounted to the bridge plate straight? You may be able to remount, or there may be a protrusion or some casting flash that wasn't cleared that keeps the block from sitting square - you may be able to file that down. Otherwise, is the trem block deformed somehow? That may require swapping the bridge from Sterling.

Beyond all that, I suppose it's possible the cavity wasn't fully routed - if there was some debris in the template they use that wasn't cleared or fouling the router bearing, it could stop the router from its full travel and leave the cavity too small. In that case, and assuming that the bridge/trem is mounted true, yes, take some sandpaper (or a palm router if you have one, are careful, and don't want to bother with sanding) and open up the cavity a touch. You'll likely want to reseal that spot with some lacquer when done.

 

[Mu5icM@n]

Here’s what the cavity looks like--the block is rubbing on the side near the bottom of the picture. Is this how the cavity should look? I'd think there should be more space around the block on the one side.

 

[racerx]

Could you try removing and re-seating the bridge? I wonder if it was drilled in slightly off center. Its a clunky process but not difficult.

 

[Mu5icM@n]

So, I spent a little time with it today. I had to adjust the trem posts so they were slightly uneven, raising the bass side of the bridge slightly and lowering the treble side of the bridge. It looks slightly uneven from the top, but it nudged the block just barely enough that it must not be touching the side of the cavity any more. The tuning stability came right back as soon as I did that. I adjusted the bridge saddles to compensate for the change in height and it's all good now. Probably I'll go in there with some sandpaper or build a template for my router at some point and widen that cavity a bit. Thanks for all the input!